A strip light is a multilamp narrow luminaire used in the field of stage lighting for use on closed space battens or in tight spaces where a general wash of light from either the top, bottom, or side of the stage area or a combination of them is desired.
Each lamp in a strip light generates considerable heat that in the present art of strip lighting is vented through top and bottom openings that are partly covered with light shields to block light from passing through the openings. Light leakage from the strip light is to be avoided since the front of the strip light faces the area to be illuminated and the rear of the strip light faces and is visible to the audience and the top and bottom sides of the strip light are visible to some degree to the audience. These top and bottom openings, or vents, because of their limited areas are able to pass only a relatively small amount of the heat generated by a lamp, especially since the vent light shields tend to further reduce the passing of heat. The buildup of heat within the luminaire over time eventually overheats a portion of electrical wiring mounted in the strip light causing meltdown and failure of the electrical circuit.
Accordingly, it is an object of this application to provide a multilamp strip light system which vents the strip light of heat to the degree that electrical circuit failure because of overheating of the interior of the strip light is eliminated.
It is a further object of this application to provide a multilamp strip light system which both vents the strip light of heat in rear areas of the strip light directly facing the audience and also prevents the passage of light.
In accordance with the above objects and others which will become apparent hereinafter, there is provided a multilamp strip light luminaire system, including a housing forming a compartment having front wall defining a lamp port, lamp means positioned in the compartment having a light beam directed at the lamp port, the lamp means including a dichroic reflector for passing infrared light and accompanying heat through the reflector away from the front side of the housing toward the back side of the housing, electrical wiring mounted in the housing for supplying electrical power to the lamp means from a source of electrical power, vent means located at first and second walls for passing heat generated by the lamp mans within the housing to the atmosphere, rear vent means located at the rear wall of the housing for passing heat passed by the lamp means toward the back side of the housing from the housing to the atmosphere, and baffle means within the housing for blocking passage of light leaking from the lamp means to the rear vent means. A channel formed in the housing containing a portion of the electrical wiring, so that the electrical wiring is substantially isolated from the heat generated in the housing by the lamp.